Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Nagisa Japanese Restaurant, Hyatt Regency Kinabalu, Sabah

Nagisa Japanese Restaurant, Hyatt Regency Kinabalu

The award winning Japanese restaurant, Nagisa at Hyatt
Regency Kinabalu, is a venue valued not only for quality cuisine, but too for
its suitability to entertain important guests and visitors.

Resembling a Japanese winter cottage, the restaurant is framed
with dark wood panels, and lit with gentle warm lighting. The main dining area
has an outlook over the sea, of which the hotel is an immediate neighbour. The
large space is divided into smaller more intimate areas with the division of a
tatami room, two private dining rooms, a sushi counter and two teppanyaki
tables.

Private Dining Room

Nagisa Japanese Restaurant

Teppanyaki Table

I meet some friends for a light lunch, which turns into
quite a feast, as there are so many tempting items that grab our attention.

A house specialty, Unagi Sunomono – vinegared eel with
seaweed, sliced cucumber and ginger shoot – whets our appetite for more, much
more! Good thing the Miso Soup arrives and takes the edge off our hunger. It proves
a good standard with the signature murky broth holding plenty of seaweed, cubes
of white tofu and a speckling of green herbs.

Unagi Appetizer

Miso Soup

An assortment of sushi is made a la minute and we have such
a challenge choosing just a couple that we leave our selection in the hands of
the manager, who picks three for us to sample.

The white rice exterior of the Soft Shell Crab Maki Roll is
speckled with sesame, while the interior is a twirl of green chives, orange
ebiko roe and fried brown crustacean. With the crab still hot, the bites are
bundles of deliciousness.

Soft Shell Crab Maki Roll

The most popular roll is the Unagi Maki. Topped and filled with
avocado, ebiko and Japanese mayonnaise, it’s a lovely combination of textures:
creamy avocado, fresh bursts from the roe, slippery eel, crispy cucumber, and
sweet Japanese omelet tamago.

Unagi Maki

Last month’s promotion was so successful it remains on the
menu, Salmon Skin Maki. Rolled in dried grated seaweed and stuffed with
cucumber, pickled veggies and roe, the warm filling contrasts its casing creating
a very pleasant experience.

Salmon Skin Maki Rolls

Fresh from the local market comes Horse Mackerel Sashimi
served on a bowl of ice with shredded daikon radish and oba leaf beneath, and
grated ginger and spring onions on top. A second sashimi platter filled with
salmon, Sabah red snapper, tuna, octopus and Sabah butterfish is layered atop
shredded white radish and green leaves. It couldn’t be fresher. Each and every
slice melts in our mouths without even the suggestion of a chew. Truth be told,
our appetites have been satisfied and we quite easily ‘could have’ ended our meal very happily here, but…

Horse Mackerel Sashimi

Sashimi Platter

More fish follows - this time a cooked dish in the Codfish
in Teriyaki Sauce. The flesh proves flaky but firm and the sweet sauce
complements it beautifully. Two more hot dishes are seen in this month’s
promotions, with Wagyu Beef and Cheesy Prawns. The former sees plump firm
spears of asparagus wrapped in super thin strips of wagyu beef, and the latter
enormous butterflied prawns smothered in Japanese mayonnaise and toasted until
golden - most certainly not the healthy style of cuisine this nation is reputed
for, but a smashingly enticing one at that.

Codfish Teriyaki

Wagyu Beef Wrapped Asparagus

Garlic Rice

Cheesy Prawns

And… now that we’re on a downward slope of throwing calories
out the window and devoting prime concern to taste, a tower of slender Mixed
Tempura is devoured. Prawns, fish, ladies fingers and carrot are coated in brittle
golden jackets that crunch as we break them apart with our teeth.

Mixed Tempura

Our only redemption at this moment is to end with a petite
bowl of house made Green Tea Ice Cream with red bean paste. Tea and beans: surely that’s vindication right?

Green Tea Ice Cream and Red Bean Paste

Nagisa not only showcases a wonderful a la carte menu, but a
popular monthly Saturday night buffet too. Hubby, envious of my girls’ lunch
out, insists on the buffet for dinner. At first I turn up my nose, wondering
how could I possibly summons the appetite for a second round of Japanese fare…

It turns out, rather easily! A few hours later and a workout
in between, I’m back and find some of my favourites from lunch in the line up,
but some new temptations too. A compact
buffet satisfies a full house. Every table is booked when we return, so I
suggest you make an advance reservation too.

Tempura Station

Live cooking stations for tempura, teppanyaki and sushi see
these dishes prepared to order. Noodles, rice, and a few other classics are
ready for the taking, and a dessert table, including the Hyatt’s homemade ice
cream gets a final farewell from every diner as far as I can see.

Teppanyaki Station

The Saturday night buffet dinner is priced at RM138 per person. Advance reservations are highly recommended.

Reasons to visit:
quality Japanese cuisine; fine setting for entertaining business guests; Saturday dinner buffet held every third Saturday of the month.

9 comments:

I think I need to go to some Japanese soon. Everything look so good, triggers a craving in me... Love that private dining room with the hanging kettle. Do they light the wood? Any suction to draw away the smoke? It would get really smoky if they do not have that and the smell sticks to one's clothes...like at some (Korean) BBQ restaurants.

MonicaYou sure get around - the airlines must love you???Sabah on the island of Borneo.I think most Aussies associate this area of Malayasia withSandakan P.O.W camp in WW2.A place of great infamy.Although the food as shown looks delicious, I doubt if manyAustralians would be eating Japanese food at that restaurant.I enjoy Japanese food as a special treat on occasions - notreally overly fond of it.CheersColin

My uncle was a POW in Sandakan, part of the infamous Death March. They moved the memorial from Sandakan to Labuan. It's very well taken care of. We actually made a trip to Labuan two years back for Remembrance Day (my dad is a veteran) and found my uncle's name.